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Sunday, April 22, 2012

So ... it has clearly been a while since my last posting. I have accumulated various things I wanted to post about over the last 6 weeks, but today I plan to write about the Sole of the City 10k.

My running over the last few months has been sub par but I have managed to knock out a 5-6 mile run almost every week of tax season. While I had a goal of 60 minutes for the 10k ... I knew it was a stretch since only a few of my winter runs were close to that pace.

Thursday after work I went over to Charm City Run and picked up my bib and shirt. The Under Armour shirt is awesome! Not only is it long sleeved (something I don't have much of because I am cheap) the logo was stitched! Pick up was easy and I loved that they did it at each of the locations.

In the bag was various ads and the bib. On the back of the bib was $10 off any merchandise. After the race my husband and I each used our $10 since there was a CCR at the race finish. He got a pair of socks and I got body glide (after rubbing the insides of my thighs nearly raw during the race) and we only chipped in 3$.

The race itself:

1. Easy to get in and out off (we parked at the further lot but it was still an easy walk).
2. Started on time.
3. Really liked where the course went, most of the Baltimore races I have done omit the inner harbor.

4. On course support - there was more support than I expected for a 10K.
5. The water was oddly placed or not enough. Either that ... or I was dying from "heat".
6. Nothing to do with the race organization it self - but I was really dying from being hot.
7. Some parts were a little thin space wise but not as thin as parts of Annapolis Half and it didn't bother me but maybe some people.
8. I liked the post race area - places to sit down (tables and stairs). There was a band and some food. We also stopped by the new CCR store. It was nice to wander around and loosen ours legs with stuff to look at.

All in all - I had a fun time and would do it again.

I really struggled during the actual run. I was really hot and at one point my foot fell asleep for about a mile and it started to creep up my leg. My ankles bothered me again as well. Lets just say, this was not going to be an amazing performance and it was a feat to finish! Each mile felt about like 2 miles.

I might try and break out my old shoes on my next run ... I swear my ankles didn't bother me like this before ... but then again now my knees don't bother me like they sometimes did with my other shoes.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

I love that the week I post my schedule and get all excited for the running to start to pick up, that I don't run. We opted not to run on Saturday since the weather was not that great. I was planning on running Sunday morning instead. I went to bed really early Saturday night (10) and didn't get up until 8 on Sunday. I still felt really exhausted from the week at work and my ankle was still bothering me. Not sure how long to be easy on my ankle - but I wouldn't want to make something small turn into a larger problem this early in the year.

So you wonder, what am I going to entertain you with in this post? Some of the fun from last Sunday's run that I completely forgot to post!

The bundle works with the iPhone app IRunner. Digifit also has other tracking apps for bikers etc.

I use the ArmPocket Sport I-20 to carry my iPhone and I love it. While it is somewhat bulky - I always forget about it and it is very good quality. It fits my iPhone with case & my car keys. During races, I am able to fit my iPhone and a couple of gels. The armband has a memory foam type insert that fits well around your arm and the case is fairly water resident. I have gotten caught in a few bad storms and my phone was nice & safe.

We took it for a test run but had technical difficulties and accidentally ended our workout on the App and had to do two workouts. I wanted to be able to compare it to my Nike+. Neither are super sophisticated ways to track things, but its a good enough for the price and gives enough detail. What I like about the Digifit app is that it tracks info from the heart rate monitor which my Nike+ does not. Also, the Digifit works with the scale that I got over Christmas. Since I like all things graphs and stats, it would allow me to make weight/body composition graphs with workout data as well. Is it bad that I want to steal my husbands present?

Me in my new Valentine's Day Under Armour top.

A view from the NCR Trail.

I don't have data from last Sunday's run - be we ran 6 miles in 59 minutes for a 9:53 pace. I was so mad that with two phones that track things, I ended with 0 data. I forgot to turn mine on because I was messing with my husbands, and we accidentally ended the workout on his before we were done. Ahhh technology!

Friday, March 2, 2012

As you saw in my last post, my race line up for the next 4 months is set. As most of you know, right now running is really an after thought since most days I have about 1 hour that I am awake, not at work, or not driving home from work. With tax season ending in about 6 weeks, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!

Coming up with a training plan to go from now until the Baltimore Half with the 10k and the 10 miler along the way was a challenge. The biggest challenge is that my husband is running the 10k not the 10 miler but is doing the half. We run together but I know that I will be training for the 10 miler in June but he won't be. So after the 10-miler, I will be scaling back down so that we can start to train for the Half. I also have to keep in mind that I will be studying for the CPA which will be taking up another 20 hours a week roughly.

So my running since the two half's I did last year has just been running a 5-6 mile long run, occasionally a 3 mile mid-week run, and yoga on Thursday. Needless to say, no much but I just don't have the time. My first race I signed up for is a week after tax season ends ... I will not be trained but I am still excited for it and it will be fun. I am not worried too much abut my time but do have a goal.

As you can see - until April 17th, I am not really running much. And even at the "height" of training, I would say I run on the lower end of the spectrum and less than other people. My body tends to prefer it that way so I don't see the need to push it more at this point. I am never going to break and records and as long as I can get better compared to my self - I don't really care about others!

So after the Sole of the City 10K, I will be gearing up for the Baltimore 10-Miler.

Now after the Baltimore 10 Miler, the rest of the summer will be getting ready for Baltimore Half AND trying not to get hurt. I have been having random tweaks over the last few months, so I want to make sure that I don't risk not running it at all. My goal for this is to break 2 and right now my best Half time was 2:19. I know its lofty - but we will see!

The sad part is - I would have done it in excel just like that regardless of if I was posting it to the public. I am a nerd ... I spent my only day off last week working on my spreadsheet. I even added an column for expected calorie burn. As of now, Hot Yoga on Sundays is offered, so hopefully that will work out. I want to start doing Hot Yoga and hopefully some extra stretching will help keep my muscles from being less tight.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

So far my running year is a year of all downtown Baltimore races ... Before the year started - I set a budget for entry fees for the two of us ($500). With the 3 events below (a total of 5 entry fees) we are more than half way through the budget. I will look for 1 or 2 more things to do either in November or December. I really want to do another holiday themed one so I can wear my funny costume.

"April 21, 2012 will be a day for runners. It will be our city, our streets and, of course at the end of it all, our party! Join us for the inaugural Sole of the City 10K. We’ll run the streets of Baltimore and finish up at the newest Charm City Run location at McHenry Row. This is our 10th anniversary so we have the run covered. The after-run festivities will be sponsored by our good friends at The Greene Turtle. We can’t wait to see you!"

Premium: Black Under Armour Escape Lightweight Quarter Zip.

No course map has been posted yet. But it does finish at McHenry Row (Downtown Baltimore)

Goal: 60 minutes. Coming right out of tax season - I will not have trained for this and just will have been doing 1-2 runs a week throughout the winter just to maintain some sort of endurance from last fall. I will be running this with my husband as well.

"This fifth running will feature the same scenic, challenging, yet fun course the starts and finishes at Druid Hill Lake Park near the Maryland Zoo. The course will travel along the North side of town to Lake Montebello and return to Druid Hill for the post race festivities that are SECOND TO NONE for this size race."

Premium: Born Fit 1/4 Zip Jacket with Pocket in the back

Goal: 1 hour and 35 minutes. A little worried about the heat for this - and I will probably not be as trained as I should be. My husband will not be running this with me - I have never ran a race alone. I don't know what to expect - when I run alone, I tend to let up sooner than I need too.

As much as I hate the almost entire uphill course - this is by far my favorite race from a crowd and excitement statement. See my reviews. Who doesn't love candy being handed out along the course!

Premium: In years past - the shirt has been an Under Armour Catalyst short sleeve shirt. So far I have an orange one and a blue one.

This years shirt is not out yet.

Goal: My goal for this race is Sub 2 hours. This is a lofty goal since my fastest half has been 2:19 but I think I can put more into training this year than last year. Last year I didn't start running until June and had only run about 1-2 times a week throughout my training. It will be hard but it will be something to work towards. If I miss my goal like I did last year - I will probably enter another half just to try again. Last year at Baltimore I missed my 2:30 goal by 1 min and 41 sec - so I ran Annapolis Half and beat it by 11 minutes.

What are you signing up for?

Oh and I did yoga today! Way to go for me for exercising 3 of the last 6 days!

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

On Valentine's Day I came home "early" (7:30) and even though we said no presents this year, I was still hoping I got something. My husband said my present didn't make it on time. Fast forward two days and I got the above Under Armour top that I drooled over and couldn't justify the cost. I love the top! I love that it has little thumb cut outs to keep the sleeves from riding up, I love the color, and I the fit. I was so excited that I literally jumped up and down.

I didn't run the weekend after my last post because we had snow one day and then I was taking the CPA exam (one part of four parts) that Sunday. Speaking of which - I have been anxiously waiting for the score and other jurisdictions have there results as of yesterday and I am still waiting for mine!

Last weekend I did another identical run to the last two weekends. I felt pretty good for the first 3 miles and then for the second half I was all sorts of achy.

\

Then yesterday before dinner at work, a coworker and I went for a short run through the various parking lots in the office park area that the building is in.

Not sure what will be on my running agenda this weekend. I am crazy tired and it is only Wednesday. I am hoping I will do another Saturday morning run. I am doing yoga tomorrow which I am excited for.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

I started off last weekend with a run before work on Saturday. It went pretty well and was almost identical to the weekend before.

Weird thing is that I have been doing my outdoor 5 mile runs about 1-1:30 min per mile faster than all of last fall into December. Nothing has changed aside from my pants/shoes. I know compression has benefits but I am sure its not to that extent.

I was hoping for a mid-week run but this week it ain't happening. I will have yoga tomorrow though.

I am not quite sure what to do with the rest of my year. If tax season wasn't encompassing all of the spring, I think I would do the Frederick Running Festival (Half Marathon) but it is way to early in May for a half for me.

Right now I am leaning towards the Baltimore 10-miler in June, especially now that the premium was presented on their Facebook Page.

The Annapolis Half moved a couple weeks after where it was last year (to Dec. 1).

Any fun things I should sign up for?

I have a wish list of running things that I want. I stopped at Dick's last week to check the clearance rack and didn't see much. I did see so many full price things that I want! Oh ... if money was endless....

Here are a couple of the things I drooled over ... If someone really wanted to get me an awesome Valentine's Day gift .....

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Let me back up a day for a minute though. I came home yesterday in a fairly grumpy mood. So while I wasn't planning on running, I ended up going to the gm on my way home from work.

It was about 7:45pm when I got to the gym - Planet Fitness. There is at least 40 treadmills and I literally got on the last open one. I totally expect that at 6pm but 7:45?

I have been making a conscious effort to get better at running on the treadmill for the sake of running in the dark/winter. Although I would gladly take Saturday's 30 degree outdoor run over last nights 90 degree run. I swear the gym cranks up the heat to make people think they are sweating lots and losing all sorts of weight.

I was planning on doing about 2 miles but ended up doing 3.25 in 35 minutes including .25 warm up walk/.25 cool down walk. Cranked up my Rascal Flatts channel on Pandora and ran. I am such a loser haha.

So I know that the giant logo I just posted says "the judgement free zone" but WTF was the girl on the treadmill next to me doing? I know I do odd things, but seriously this was the weirdest thing I have seen.

So these are the treadmill that are at my gym:

See that front bar thing - I hate it. It makes me feel cramped and then I end up holding all sorts of tension in my arms and it just gets in the way. I end up touching it and then I end up having to run further back than I want. The other two gyms I have belonged to have no such bar.

So I frequently see people doing the crank up the incline/speed but hold on for dear life - but what I saw last night was far worse than that.

She would literally crouch down and hug that bar part in the middle (with both arms) but keep her feet running. She did this about every 30 seconds for about half of my run. It was so odd!

Okay judging is over.

I did yoga today and that felt nice. 50 minutes of sun salutations, warriors, stretches, and final relaxation. Hopefully another 5-6 miles this weekend (I haven't checked the weather yet).

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Well it has been entirely too long to not post ... but a not a whole lot has been happening on the front here, so I figured I would not bore everyone with complaining about working lots and not having time to run. Pretty much most of my days have been sleep.eat.work. I did make a couple good meals this week that all came from SkinnyTaste.Com.

Then Tuesday night I prepared the Chicken Rollatini with Spinach all a Parmigiana. I made it ahead of time so that al Dan had to do on Wednesday night was put it in the oven. That worked out really well for us. I think we could even freeze these pretty well.

Saturday morning finally came around with the nice sound of an alarm at 6:30am. I wanted to be able to run before going to work. I needed to test out my shoes one more time before needing to exchange them. After a nice 5.6 mile run on the NCR - I decided to keep the Brooks that I was indecisive about.

After not really running more than 2 miles in the last 3 weeks, I actually had one of my best paces for a leisurely run I have ever had and didn't need to walk the entire time.

Since the NCR Trail is near my work, after the run I kissed Dan bye and was off to work!

Saturday night was pretty relaxing - we made Filet with some spinach and scalloped potatoes.

For Christmas I received a subscription to Runner's World. Until now I had no received any issues. I was getting super antsy but checked my mail and I had 3 months worth!

Last but not least - today we finally got around to hanging some wedding related things (yes, yes about 7 months later!). I ordered this canvas with a Groupon and was very happy with it. The canvas was from Canvas on Demand.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

We all know that I have issues with the treadmill - so I have not been able to assess the new shoes. I am planning to run this weekend outside so then I can make my final choice within my 2 week window to exchange them.

When I ran in them on Tuesday I had different aches then usual but who knows.

On to more exciting things. To go along with my love for Under Armour - look at this polo I scored at work. The polos are these. The good part is that I can wear it to golf also ... although I only golfed 2 times last summer since our weekends usually were taken up by our long run.

On Tuesday I made one of my best stir frys if I say so my self. I found a new noodle and it was awesome. They are called Soba Noodles and I actually was able to find them at Wal-Mart. They pack a good amount of protein for a noodle and the 2 oz serving actually was more filling them other things we have had stir fry over. I marinated 1/2 a pound (for two people) of some sliced up beef in some Low Sodium Stir Fry sauce over night. I stir fried the meat for about 3-4 minutes and then added about 1/4 cup of stir fry sauce and about 1/8 cup of soy sauce. I added 1/2 a can of water chestnuts and about a tablespoon sesame seeds and a sprinkle of some ground ginger. I use these vegetables for stir fry and put them until they are cooked. Meanwhile the noodles cook 3 minutes and then I threw them into the pan with the meat and the sauce. It came out very tasty and I didn't do the exact math but I know it was fairly low on the calories for such a filling/quick dinner (200 for noodles, 75 for veggies, 50 for sauce, 150 meat = 475).

Then two days later, I followed Skinny Taste's recipe for a Crock Pot Bolognese. This also came out really good - I substituted Basil for the Parsley and I also added an 8 oz can of tomato sauce to have a saucy-er consistency.

So, not much running but I did do some good eating and used fairly healthy recipes all week!

Sunday, January 15, 2012

So since trying to run on the treadmill (which I haven't done until the last couple weeks), I have developed some aches that are not typical for me.

Since I am not running any races until April (Sole of the City 10k), I figure this would be the perfect time to go to square one with my treadmill running.

Starting this week I am going to use C25K to basically ween my self into treadmill running and to avoid some of the aches and pains that I have been having. So yup - me who ran 2 half marathons within a month of each other in October/November is going back to the basics and alternating walking and running for 20 minutes 3 times this week. Since I need to do more activity than that for calorie burn - I will probably add 20 minutes of the elliptical or arc trainer to it.

In other news, as mentioned above I signed up for Sole of the City 10k.

You want a fun, fast and scenic downtown course through Charm City? Check.

You want food, a few drinks, and good times with friends and family after the race? Yup, got 'em, and done. You want a great race premium and bragging rights that you ran the newest event on the spring racing scene? Well-- that part is up to you-- be we've got the goods. Entry is limited to 2500 and we are well on our way. Check out the event page for registration details as well as the option to train with friends at a location near you. We can't wait to see you in the Spring!"

On the food front - I made a Bruschetta Chicken and that was delicious! A chicken breast (thin cutlet) that i lightly dredged in flour and sautéed for 3-4 minutes per side. Then I made the brushcetta topping - some tomatoes, onions, minced garlic, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, basil, salt, pepper and some mozzarella cheese. I topped the chicken with this and served it with a small side of roasted garlic couscous.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

So while this weekend has not lent it self to a lot of running, I did get new shoes! I decided to take the running day off because my feet were still bothering me some, and well I am not really training for anything right now, so I aside from wanting to lose some weight I wasn't worried about a missed run.

I have been running in Mizuno Wave Inspire 6 and was quite happy with them until within the last month I could tell it was new shoe time.

I went to Charm City Run, one of two running stores I have gotten shoes at. These previous shoes had an even wear pattern, so they were definitely much better than the shoes I had before those.

Lastly, I tried on this year's version of what I already owned, Mizuno Wave Inspire 8.

I also liked how these felt - they were what I already had.

I took the 2nd and 3rd shoe for a spin round the parking lot to see which one I liked better. I had a really hard time deciding but picked the Brooks Adrenaline GTS 12. I liked how my foot felt more supported. Hopefully I made the right choice as this is only my second pair of real running shoes that I have been fitted for. If not, then at least I know for the future!

Last nights crock pot dinner came out amazing. I made the Chicken Taco Recipe from Skinny Taste. The yes thing is that it was done when I got home from work. My husband ate it soft taco style and I had it over more of a taco salad base. Both were good. The blogger served it over rice and that would be quite tasty too.